The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Nigeria, Major-General Shuaibu Ibrahim, has flagged off a national environmental sanitation exercise.
According to him, environmental protection and sanitation have become inseparable for a stable, healthy and sustainable ecosystem.
General Ibrahim stated this in Bauchi State, North-East Nigeria, at the official start of the sanitation exercise with the theme, “Clean Environment/Good Hygiene: Panacea for Good Health and Long Life”.
He said that the environmental sanitation exercise would be taking place in all the 36 States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
(The NYSC is a compulsory scheme for all graduates of different tertiary institutions in Nigeria including Nigerians who studied abroad who are less than or 30years of age before graduation. The scheme is committed to national unity, nation-building and development).
“Every member of the society has to be mobilized to participate in having a clean environment.
“As you are already aware, environmental sanitation has been recognized globally as one of the key requirements for the prevention of diseases and their escalation to epidemic proportions.
“On this premise, efforts must be stepped up to enlighten the general public, especially the rural dwellers, on the health risks of poor hygiene with particular focus on the prevention of contamination of food, water and the entire environment.
“To achieve this, every member of the community will be mobilized for participation in the exercise, which will feature sensitization, disease surveillance and report of outbreaks.
“Indeed, the call to action will promote cooperation and reduce indifference and ignorance,” said the Director-General.
He further said that the Scheme would educate the public on the decontamination of foods as well as the disinfection of the environment such as the living rooms, toilets, public spaces, handling of toxic materials and tree-planting to support a healthy ecosystem, among others.
Shuaibu, however, commended the Bauchi State Government, traditional rulers and other stakeholders for their collaboration with the NYSC in ensuring effective environmental sanitation in the State.
Speaking at the event, the Director-General, Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA), Mr Ibrahim Kabir, lauded the NYSC for organizing the environmental sanitation exercise in the State.
The BASEPA boss promised that his agency would continue to support and partner with the NYSC whenever the need arises.
Meanwhile, in her remarks, the Deputy Director, NYSC Directorate, Headquarters and Monitoring Office, Mrs Esther Kadiri, while calling on corps members to take the sanitation exercise serious, said she would be visiting all the 20 local government areas of the State to monitor the exercise as being conducted by the corps members in the State.
Amaka E. Nliam
